Nautiscarader's Wendip Week prompt 4: Midnight
by nautiscarader
Summary: Wendy and Dipper end up on the opposite end of the phone line, for very different reasons.
One by one, droplets of coffee kept falling into a ceramic mug. Which usually wouldn't make Dipper remotely excited, but then again, under normal circumstances brewing a cup of coffee shouldn't take more than an hour. Before landing in Dipper's cup, the brownish liquid had to pass through several layers of complicated filters, one for each dangerous element known to mankind and several new ones Ford was quite happy to brag about when he installed the system. And sadly, the precautions were needed, as none of them knew how dangerous the food could be here.
Dipper's eyes followed yet another drop swirling through the never-ending series of tubes, getting stuck in the same loop as before, and then finally rushing down until it joined all the previous ones. He turned off the tap, and gulped down half of the lukewarm drink in one go.

It's not like he could do anything in this place right now anyway. Dipper took a spin on his swivel chair, scooted to the inactive control panels and looked through the window of the building. Many years ago it had glass in it, but the architectural integrity was the least of the problems this dilapidated military outpost has brought upon them.

According to Ford, the vast coniferous forest beneath them hold the key to understand an extremely strong anomaly he has detected. As a result he dragged both him and Stan into this faraway location. It wasn't the first time Dipper was part of their expedition, and so far they did a pretty good job of finding more and more mysterious places around the world. The facility they were staying in, deserted and condemned years ago, was also nothing new to him, and truth to be told, it made Dipper excited as ever.

But there were two reasons this expedition was different. For once, Ford was very anxious about magnitude of otherworldly problems they could have to face. He has listed several places around the globe that exhibited similar properties to Gravity Falls, and they all felt it was their duty to prevent any possible pandimensional invasions.

And secondly, he had to leave Wendy home.

They took turns in the guards' post, and today it was Dipper's. He kept sipping the liquid, waiting for either of his grunkles to return - Ford from the radars, Stan from the scavenging trip. The equipment set up by Ford was still silent; a myriad of counters and detectors were all showing some variation of number 0, or "off" in several languages. The monitors behind him were periodically turning on and off, as Ford was meddling with the hidden CCTV cameras scattered throughout the forest surrounding the once restricted base.

In his spare time Dipper tried determining the place's accurate location, but up to no avail. First of all, he had troubles getting any contact with outside world - the top of his phone showed no signal bars. Ford was sure his showed a negative one. Secondly, the buildings have been removed from every map - both physical and on-line - they browsed. And just like in Gravity Falls, one had to ask themselves if that was a cause or effect of whatever happened here.

Being cut off from the world, especially in that faraway country, could not have been more depressing for Dipper. In his head, he already went through thousand of scenarios where Wendy needed him, and he could do nothing to save her. And then he usually remembered that it would be much more probable for him to be in that situation, instead of her. But this time it was different...

His thoughts were interrupted by loud metallic shriek, followed by Ford's voice coming from the speakers in front of him.

\- Dipper? Are you there? I think I finally got it! Do you copy? Over!

He quickly put on bulky radioman's headphones he had to take from radioman's skull the day before.

\- I hear you! Over!  
\- Good job with the systems, Dipper. I think we will be now able to monitor the entire area. I'm going to fiddle with the wiring some more, try checking if the radio is still working. Over and out!

With the systems fixed, Dipper spent next few minutes trying to tune into any local radiostations. He recognised one song he heard when they were crossing the border, the one that curiously Stan was able to understand. Then again, the only reason they got so far was Stan's passport from a country that is no longer on any map, valid only in equally non-existent nations.

He was tuning the radio over and over, when an idea hit him. He opened a large box full of old adapters, and with a help of a screwdriver managed to create a long electronic monstrosity, wide enough to plug in the old radio on one end, and slim enough to connect with his phone's minijack on the other. He turned the huge speakers' volume up and dialled one very important number. For a while he thought that something horrible has happened, as it never took Wendy that long to answer his calls. He was about to turn the large knob on the panel to strengthen the signal, but her voiced soon filled the room.

\- Dipper...? Is that you?

Her weary voice initially petrified Dipper, just before a loud yawn made him realise the situation.

\- Wait, were you sleeping?

She returned a single, miserable "uh-uh". Dipper slapped his head, or at least he would have if he was not wearing metal helmet on it.

\- Damn, I forgot about the time zones. It's -  
\- Midnight here.  
\- Right. Honey, I'm so sorry, I didn't want to wake you -  
\- How are you making that call? I though you had no connection over there. - Wendy interrupted. He could already hear a faint noise of their coffee maker in the background being turned on. Coffee. Real coffee. Real coffee that smells and tastes and looks like coffee.

\- We, uh, we found a way. - Dipper replied, waking up from his culinary fantasy and fiddling the microphone wire between his fingers.

He looked through the outpost window, following the cord and had to stretch his neck to see piece of equipment that allowed him to talk with his wife.

A gargantuan skeletal construction of rusted metal pipes, ladders and pylons was towering over the buildings and casting shadow on the entire western side of the forest. Thanks to Dipper and Ford's work, the phone wire was now connected to an old cold-war wall array of radars, three hundred feet tall and more than tenth of a mile long, used once to track enemies' missiles, enemies' airplanes, and with enough power, enemies as well. Silent for more than twenty years, it was now happily transmitting Wendy's distressed voice.

\- Dipper, are you still there?  
\- Oh, yeah, I am. - he replied, getting lost in thought. - I was just, uh, checking if the antenna is long enough. Over!

Her laughter filled his heart with content and finally brought some peace to his nervous mind.

\- How are you holding up?  
\- Fine, you don't have to worry. - she reassured him, taking another sip of her drink - But we could use an extra heat source in bed.

Dipper involuntarily put his hand over his stomach, just as if he would do with hers.

\- Wendy, don't worry, I'm coming soon to you two, I promise.  
\- Told you I'd be fine If I came with you...  
\- No, no, no, no, and one more no. - Dipper yelled. - I don't want you anywhere near here, it's - it's too dangerous.  
\- And what, you think you can stop me, a flipping Corduroy?

"No, but deadly radiation poisoning could", he thought and almost immediately looked through the readings he was supposed to be monitoring. Various different counters and measurement tools haven't ticked a bit since the last time, although now Dipper realised the one brought by Ford was measuring some quantity using complex numbers. It didn't make him any calmer.

\- No, really, Wendy, this is bad idea, trust me. Trust us, Stan and Ford wouldn't risk their lives if it wasn't something worth checking out.  
\- Then why do you have to risk yours?

The tranquillity gained before burst into million pieces and sank deep down in Dipper's stomach, leaving a trail of overwhelming emptiness. It took him quite a time to collect his mind, but he was cut off by her again.

\- Dipper... Do you really think that Ford was right? Are you gonna find another portal? Something dangerous?

Dipper let out a deep sigh, hearing Wendy's anxious tone.

\- I... I don't know. That's why we're here. To-to make sure it's not longer dangerous if it i-  
\- But why you, why now? - she cried into the receiver.

Another minute has passed before Dipper a could formulate a coherent answer. Her quiet sniffing only deepened his already enormous guilt. Just like before, he couldn't exactly express his motivations, beside the simplest argument of this being his job. But it was as his job as hers, or Mabel's, or Soos'. Unable to respond he mumbled the only explanation he could.

\- Wendy, that's... that's not my fault. You know that... Right?  
\- I know. - she quickly recovered - And I know you're doing this to make other people safe. And I love you for that.

Dipper couldn't tell if she was still crying - he hasn't seen her in that state many times, although each one has rooted into his memory quite deeply. But Wendy's voice seemed to return to normal with her every reassuring word.

\- ... and I know that once you come back I'm gonna kick your ass for that, and one day your son is gonna do the same, and he's probably gonna save you, like you did us -

Dipper's heart skipped a beat.

\- Wait, son?

Wendy cursed under her nose.

\- Uhm, surprise, I guess? No, seriously, sorry, I was meant to wait till you return. I found out yesterday. Mabel already bought you those exploding joke cigars.

The flabbergasted Pines had to take another minute to recover.

\- G-Give her my thanks. She probably feels bummed, cos she will have to redo the sweaters, isn't she? - he said trying to cover his quivering lips  
\- Are you kidding me? - exploded Wendy, clearly caffeinated beyond her normal limit - She already made one for each colour in the world, we will have to ask dad to build us another storage room. Oh, by the way, try to discover some new species of animals, cos she's running out of unique plushies.

They both laughed, putting aside the sadness they felt awhile, though they both knew it will return some time soon. It has never really escaped them in the last month or so.  
He remembered when it first dawned on him that he will be a father. Curiously enough, at that time they were both in mortal danger as well and that one phrase whispered to his ear might have added him enough strength to save them. After this event, they unanimously agreed to end their carrier and go back to their normal life, if living in Gravity Falls could be called normal. Neither of them really got over it, but their child's safety became number one priority.  
So when Ford visited them four weeks ago, with a grave face and a suitcase full of very concerning readings, they both knew their harmony might end soon. They argued more in the last seven days than in all of their life, and he almost departed being on speaking terms with her.

Upon hearing her cup being refilled again, Dipper was about to ask another yet another round of questions, but he heard two bickering voices and footsteps getting louder behind the half-broken door.

\- Is that Wendy? - Ford asked, before getting confirmatory nod from Dipper - Don't worry, Wendy, we're going to bring back your man safe and sound, we promise! - he shouted into the transmitter.  
\- You better do that, guys. - she laughed, wiping the tear from her face.

Dipper looked around to see Grunkle Stan bringing more boxes full of provisions.

\- Yeah, Wendy, I-I have to finish. Sorry about that late call, and all of that...  
\- No problem, Dipper. One more thing... - her much more enticing voice made Dipper quickly turned down the knob, redirecting it to his headphones. He didn't want his grunkles to hear entirety of their conversation with his wife, after all.  
\- ... don't get yourself killed there. I'm waiting for you. We're waiting for you. There's nothing that can replace you, you know.  
\- I-I'll be waiting for you too. L-Love you! - he managed to reply with his trembling mouth before sending last few kisses over the line.

Dipper put his headset aside, leaned in radioman's seat and stretched his arms. Son, huh. Deep down in his heart he couldn't help but feel a tiny bit victorious. As if he won a very primal, very primitive, and certainly very old-fashioned bet and he was about to waltz into a bar, bragging about it. He shook that feeling off immediately. He would be equally proud of a daughter, especially since she would probably take after her mother.

Once more he was about to start daydreaming, but his contemplations were interrupted by Ford's raised voice.

\- Stanley, where the heck did you get all of that?

Only now Dipper saw what kind of provisions Stan brought back. He expected cans full of preserved rations, brought from some old silo left (or rather abandoned) by soldiers long time ago. What he saw was Ford shuffling through crate full of fresh apples and pears.

\- Oh, don't you guys know? I'm not the only ladyman here! - he winked at Dipper - There's this really nice woman in a house at the end of the road, he sold me these for a song!

Dipper and Ford shared a concerned look.

\- A woman...? - Dipper started - Hasn't this town been evacuated...?  
\- Stanley, how did that house look like?  
\- Oh, just a typical wooden shack. Except, on a tree. But not like a treehouse, more like a house impaled on a tree. Kinda weird. And the tree was all wrinkled and with roots all over the place. Like toes on a foot. And the woman wasn't exactly normal either.

Stan took a sip from a jar that served him as an impromptu glass, his face still filled with satisfaction.

\- The more you think about it, nothing about that house was normal at all. But hey, a deal is a deal, am I ri-

Before he could finish, the entire building was flooded with flashing red colours and sounds of sirens going off. The printers started spewing long lists of readings on a continues stationery that kept piling and folding underneath it. At the same moment Ford, Stan and Dipper rushed to the screens trying to see what exactly was causing the alarm.  
One cracked monitor showed a peculiar sight only one of the three explorers saw before: a monstrous chicken-legged hut, presumably controlled by the owner, was jumping with tremendous speed across the forest, leaving enormous footprints in the ground.

\- Congratulations gentlemen! We have found the source of our anomalies. - Ford exclaimed.

Three pairs of eyes were tracking the house moving swiftly from one screen to other, trying to figure out its directions. It was Ford, who first realised they can also see it through the window.

\- Unfortunately, it has also found us. Evacuation! - he shouted, as all three men started running towards the highest point of their fortification, grabbing whatever could be used as a weapon.

"It's gonna make one good bedtime story for the kid", Dipper thought.


End file.
